Time Warner Cable has developed an upgrade to its WiFi Finder and My TWC apps that makes connections to its TWCWiFi-Passpoint enabled hotspots more seamless.
With the update, Time Warner Cable subscribers sitting at home can now access upgraded versions of the apps that proactively prompt users, both current and new, to create and save TWCWiFi-Passpoint enabled Wi-Fi profiles on their Android and iOS devices with just a few taps and without having to be at a hotspot.
Once they’ve created the new Passpoint profiles, Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi users can connect to a hotspot for the first time without having to sign in with their credentials. The devices seamlessly auto-connect because the app already created the SSID profile ahead of time on users’ devices with their sign-in credentials.
Earlier this year, Time Warner Cable added Passpoint/Hotspot 2.0 capabilities to most of its access points across the nation. Hotspot 2.0/Passpoint bring cellular like roaming capabilities to Wi-Fi users by enabling them to log in one time instead of entering their passwords at every access point when they come in range.
TWCWiFi-Passpoint uses enterprise-grade WPA2 security, which works on most Wi-Fi-enabled laptops, tablets, and smartphones including iPhone, Samsung Galaxy 4, and HTC One.
Hotspot 2.0/Passpoint allows mobile devices to automatically join a Wi-Fi network based upon preferences and network optimization whenever the user enters a Hotspot 2.0-enabled area. Hotspot is the technical specification that the Wi-Fi Alliance uses for hardware while Passpoint is the certification process that is needed to make sure the hardware is Hotspot 2.0 compliant.
While the Wi-Fi Alliance announced new features for Passpoint, which included seamless online sign-up, Time Warner Cable came with its app enhancement on its own.
The new Passpoint profile feature is one of the finalists, along with Time Warner Cable’s Passpoint network, in the Wireless Broadband Alliance’s awards that will be annoouned later today.
“We believe we are the first service provider to add this functionality to an app,” a Time Warner Cable spokeswoman said in an email to CED this morning. “Also, the creation of this Passpoint profile will enable these devices to seamlessly connect to other Passpoint-enabled partner hotspots, paving the way for seamless Wi-Fi roaming in the future.”
In June, Time Warner Cable announced a bilateral roaming agreement with Hotspot pioneer Boingo Wireless. At the time, the two companies, both of which are members of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, said they planned on completing a Passpoint-enabled integration this year to allow users to connect seamlessly and securely with their Passpoint-certified devices and account credentials.
“Passpoint-enabled integration still has to occur between partners like Boingo and we don’t have a date yet when this may happen,” according to Time Warner Cable’s spokeswoman.
A big part of the Passpoint roaming integration between Time Warner Cable and Boingo is getting a backend radius authentication process in place so that each company’s radius servers see the others when a customer wants to log in.
